Angela Martini is having a Tom Cruise jump-the-couch-on-Oprah moment.
Why else would the gorgeous Albanian model perch herself delicately, in a teeny string bikini, on a railing of a glass-and-steel balcony, 14 stories above Park Avenue at the Hotel Gansevoort?
PHOTOS: Angela Martini: Albanians Are Different… They Care About Butts!
A two person TV crew, a model thin blonde host and a bespectacled cameraman from Kosovo, fresh from a tour of Vegas, a photographer, Martini’s best friend’s sister and assistant Kristina, the hair and make up crew and GlobalGrind, all freak out!
“We are not going to die like this,” someone says hurriedly in a Balkan accent. “Angela get down!” another commands in a startled voice. The air in the $800 a night room is thick with fear.
The photographer, who is sharing the balcony with Martini, after a brief pause that’s pregnant with shock, coax her down and, in her bare feet, big hair and a sly smile, Martini walks nonchalantly into the room to check her images on the Mac laptop, her hair ready to be teased for the next shot.
The room exhales.
Martini is not suicidal or crazy. The reason she is deliriously happy is because she’s shooting the campaign for her very own bikini line. It’s her first business venture and the Gemini beauty queen is hungry for action, creativity and success. Here in this room, electricity courses through her veins and she is electric with excitement.
Martini’s biggest supporters are here with her, even some from Kosovo, Albania’s neighbor to the East. The Kosovo crew talk about how gorgeous Martini is, (“she’s hot, isn’t she?”) how much they love and support her, and later, before the last bikini is shot, they will dance with her around the room in celebration of her success in America.
“Hustle like an immigrant,” Martini, smiling beatifically, instructs the room when Rick Ross’s “Everyday I’m Hustlin'” hits the iPod dock.
It’s a thrill watching Martini do her thing in front of a camera. She knows how to work with light and how to be sexy without trying. Sexiness, it seems, is like a toy, a play-thing, a light switch to be turned off and on.
For today’s shoot, Martini’s long, limbs bend and move in ways Tyra Banks has never seen. Watching Martini is like watching a sexy Sphinx twirl femininity and sex as if it were a key being spun on a ring on her fingers. Silk and steel flash in her movements, in her eyes. She moves constantly in front of the camera, so much so that the shapes and poses she creates result in a blur of movement.
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After the shoot is over, after Martini asks everyone what their Astrological sign is (Martini is a Gemini), we spoke to her about her experience shooting her own line for her own campaign. Here’s some of what was said.
Angela Martini: So my first words to Globalgrind is I Love Them! It’s the best website/blog ever. You guys are very good, and don’t put bullshit, you write in honesty.
GlobalGrind: It’s a love fest in here!
Right! I have so much love for the world [LAUGHS]
You were so excited when we spoke last week about your bikini line and now you have the samples. What’s the next step after this?
Well, I want to have my own online shopping site! Of course I’m going to put my bikini’s in boutiques and stores and on other, big major online shopping sites but I also want to make one of my own. This is collection is a small one. I want to see what I learned, what mistakes I made, what I did right, what sells good, what doesn’t sell good.
The next one is going to be a bigger collection which is going to be in January. I’m going to start making it so that it comes out in April but that one, I want to be more artistic, away from my comfort zone.
Is this the first time that you’ve created a business for yourself?
Yessss!
How does that feel?
It feels very good! I was in the shoot and I was thinking, I cannot believe I have the samples. I’m shooting a campaign and everything is coming together. But, it’s funny; I want to do more! I have some ideas, which I’m going to start, but it’s a secret. I want to do more, I cannot stop! I love it and now I understand [the process].
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Out of all the pieces you’ve shot today, what’s your favorite?
My personal favorite for my body type? I love the yellow and the purple one. Of course I love all of them but I don’t know which to chose from. I can’t believe I’m wearing my own bikini’s!
How does it feel to have the crew from Kosovo here with you?
Amazing! They are the best camera crew. We even danced and partied together. It’s cool because you can learn about Kosovo and Albania, that our culture is just amazing. They came here and they’re supporting me and out of blue we start dancing, having fun or whatever. We just met and it feels like we’ve known each other forever. If you look at just the camera crew, you see how Albaniann women look. The whole team that I worked with today, they are amazing and good people. The photographer Andrew Marcinko. I shot with him for Guess and I worked with him for Bare Necessities. They all like me, I worked with them for 4 years and we are like a family. It’s comfortable, they know me, I know them and it’s all about good energy. For me, it’s all about having an inner circle, having trust and to have my own team. We have an amazing team and we dream big!
